Build your company with Antler in the heart of Europe

Antler backs the world’s most driven founders, from day zero to greatness. In our vibrant tech hubs we bring together exceptional founders from all backgrounds to build companies that move the world forward.

We are looking forward to welcoming founders to our joint residency running across Berlin, Munich, and Amsterdam.

* For the September residency, French founders will need to relocate to Amsterdam, Berlin, or Munich.

Join an upcoming AMA session

  • Funding for your startup in just 5 weeks
  • Get your first cheque from a global VC

Who is Antler for?

We’re looking for experienced business operators, technologists, or serial entrepreneurs who can motivate themselves and others to join their mission to build a game-changing business. Whether you’re an individual or a team at the early stages of a startup journey, we are here to help as a partner obsessed with your success. Become part of the top 2% of selected entrepreneurs in your region and elevate your entrepreneurial journey with us.

Join us in Amsterdam, Berlin or Munich. The next cohort starts September 30, 2024.

Individuals

Antler welcomes applications from founders at the very beginning of their startup journey — this can range from pre-idea to a running company with initial traction.

Residency for individual founders extends over 11 weeks. We support individual founders through a network of hand-selected peers (and potential co-founders), idea validation, dedicated expert sparring sessions, access to the world’s largest-growing community of like-minded entrepreneurs, and a clear pathway to a first cheque (€300k investment commitment at Day Zero in two tranches of €100k for 10% without dilution protection and €200k converting at the valuation of your next round).

Teams

Completed teams with an idea at hand are also welcome to join Antler residency. Teams are generally at the stage of validating their idea, building the early product, or having gained initial traction. Here we also stay very close to the team and provide for example dedicated expert sparring sessions, industry connections, and a strong global network of VCs and angels to access funding at the right time. This residency runs in parallel to the one with individual founders but is a bit shorter with a potential Investment Committee meeting already in Week 7 (€300k investment commitment at Day Zero in two tranches of €100k for 10% without dilution protection and €200k converting at the valuation of your next round).

What to expect when joining Antler

From day one, we provide access to an unrivaled set of co-founders, a strong ecosystem, a network, and expertise to support exceptional founders building what will define tomorrow. Having invested in hundreds of companies and worked with thousands of entrepreneurs, we know what works and what doesn't. This helps us better support our founders and help maximize their chances of success.

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Formation and Validation

We start with venture development and testing your startup hypotheses. You will be surrounded with everything you need to build at lightning speed: a community of diverse founders so that you can find the right co-founder, coaching from our team of proven founders and advisors, and perks from partners and a global network. All founders in Germany will receive a grant of €1,000 gross.

Build and pitch your company

Start talking to customers, develop your MVP, refine your business model, and develop your go-to-market strategy. You will get the opportunity to pitch your startup to Antler’s Investment Committee. If successful, Antler will commit €300,000 at Day Zero. The first €100K is in return for 10% of the business with no dilution protection. The other €200K is a binding commitment (signed at Day Zero) to the startup’s pre-seed funding round within the following months at the round’s terms. As a reference, in recent years, we have typically invested in one-third of the teams that made it to IC.

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Scaling and fundraising

You will join the Antler portfolio and receive continued support and access to a global capital pathway.

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Take a look at the exceptional companies we have supported

Antler is the most active day-zero in the world with a strong European footprint

10+

Average years of work experience of founders working with Antler

>400

Portfolio companies across Europe

70%

European portfolio companies raising further capital within 12 months after Antler’s investment

~40%

Portfolio companies have at least one female co-founder

Application process

The full application process takes about 2-3 weeks to complete. Once you apply, our scouting team will guide you through the full process and will be available to answer all your questions.

First Interview

Introduce yourself through a first call with our Investment Team where we get to know you, get a better understanding of your background and figure out if our cohort would be an ideal fit for you, together.

Second Interview and Reference Check

You will hear back from us after your first-round interview on whether or not you qualify for a second interview. The goal of this second interview is to better understand how you approach problems and handle challenges. We will also do a reference check, when applicable.

Third Interview for Technical Co-Founders

Technical Co-founders applying to Continental Europe will potentially have a final technology-focused interview to demonstrate their abilities in the field.

Offer to join Antler!

Once we have made an offer, the next steps are simple. You’ll sign an Antler Founder Agreement and shortly after, we will send you a welcome package containing instructions on how to participate in our pre-cohort activities to prepare you for your first day, as well as help you get to know the other founders in your cohort ahead of Day 1.

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Application process

The full application process takes about 2-3 weeks to complete. Once you apply, our scouting team will guide you through the full process and will be available to answer all your questions.

First Interview

Introduce yourself through a first call with our Investment Team where we get to know you, get a better understanding of your background and figure out if our cohort would be an ideal fit for you, together.

Second Interview and Reference Check

You will hear back from us after your first-round interview on whether or not you qualify for a second interview. The goal of this second interview is to better understand how you approach problems and handle challenges. We will also do a reference check, when applicable.

Third Interview for Technical Co-Founders

Technical Co-founders applying to Continental Europe will potentially have a final technology-focused interview to demonstrate their abilities in the field.

Offer to join Antler!

Once we have made an offer, the next steps are simple. You’ll sign an Antler Founder Agreement and shortly after, we will send you a welcome package containing instructions on how to participate in our pre-cohort activities to prepare you for your first day, as well as help you get to know the other founders in your cohort ahead of Day 1.

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Application process

The full application process takes about 2-3 weeks to complete. Once you apply, our scouting team will guide you through the full process and will be available to answer all your questions.

First Interview

Introduce yourself through a first call with our Investment Team where we get to know you, get a better understanding of your background and figure out if our cohort would be an ideal fit for you, together.

Second Interview and Reference Check

You will hear back from us after your first-round interview on whether or not you qualify for a second interview. The goal of this second interview is to better understand how you approach problems and handle challenges. We will also do a reference check, when applicable.

Third Interview for Technical Co-Founders

Technical Co-founders applying to Continental Europe will potentially have a final technology-focused interview to demonstrate their abilities in the field.

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Founder testimonials

Don't just take it from us. Hear from phenomenal people who joined Antler to launch their company.

Julia Wadehn

Novo

All of the positive expectations that I had regarding Antler became true. I love the hands-on approach of the Antler team, directly helping you tackle the problems you identify, rather than focusing just on theory. It feels that the team is with us on the entire journey from 0 to 1.

Misha Bragin

netbird

Each individual I meet, I understand why they are in the cohort. Being surrounded by these founders, and the support that is given from the Antler team from day one makes it much easier to move forward. They're here with you. They want you to succeed and they do everything in their power to do for you and your company to succeed.

The best time to launch was 10 years ago. The second best time is today.

There has never been a better time to start a business. The barrier to entry is lower than ever, and the dynamic economy provides endless opportunities to the spirited entrepreneur. Join Antler and get started.

Entrepass Partner

Our Team

Our experienced team will support your process of finding the perfect co-founder and starting the businesses of tomorrow.

Dr. Christoph Klink
Partner

As Partner in Central Europe, Christoph supports exceptional entrepreneurs along their journey - from entering into a cohort to building and scaling their ventures successfully. He draws on his background as Business Angel and Partner with McKinsey & Company. Before joining Antler he served a range of leading technology organizations, amongst others from the mobility and transportation space, on disruptive strategy and building innovative business models. Building and nurturing top talent organizations is one of his key passions and a great source of inspiration for Christoph.

Alan Poensgen
Partner

Alan is a partner with Antler based out of Berlin. Alan brings extensive experience in building and scaling technology businesses. He was previously MD and Co-Founder at Westwing, a home & living e-commerce company, and one of Europe’s few e-commerce IPOs of the past years. Before Westwing, he built the software development hub at Rocket Internet, and was CEO of a SEA e-commerce company, along with working for a VC and starting his own company in Spain.

Ronald Jan Schuurs
Partner

Ronald Jan is an experienced operator, entrepreneur and investor, with expertise in a.o. e-commerce, fintech and healthtech. He has spent over a decade with various C-level roles in tech startups including Rocket Internet and Delivery Hero. Previously he has been a strategy consultant at Booz & Co and an investment banker at ABN Amro. INSEAD educated.

Antoine Poirson
Partner

Antoine is a partner at Antler France. He was previously a partner at Antler's London office. Antoine was also the cofounder, chairman and COO of StanPlus Tech, a VC backed startup leading the change in the Indian medical transportation market. Before his MBA at INSEAD, Antoine spent 8 years at Areva, the World Nuclear Energy leader and a growing OEM in Renewable Energy.

Saskia van den Ende
Associate Partner

Saskia started her career at BCG in Recruitment, and Egon Zehnder (Executive Search), after which she joined UBER and helped scale their Eats & Rides businesses in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Her most recent role has been with OYO, a Softbank-backed hospitality company, where she helped launch their European business from scratch. At Antler, Saskia has an integral role in scouting founders both for the Amsterdam team but also supporting teams throughout Europe.

Monique Hoell
Venture Partner

Monique isan experienced entrepreneur and strong leader with an international trackrecord of scaling performing organizations and high growth businesses. She cofoundedHelloBody in 2016 and scaled the business to €65million in annual sales andoutstanding profitability.

Dr. Saskia Appelhoff
Venture Partner

Dr. Saskia Appelhoffis a global marketer, entrepreneur and growth leader with 15 years of experience covering all areas of marketing. Saskia has worked internationally across Europe and USA focusing on growing teams and efficiently scaling businesses. Passionate about building purpose-driven brands and companies. Advising start-up focusing on Food & Health Tech and sustainability. Previous brands that she has worked for include Zalando, raisin, SmileDirectClub, Outfittery, Wooga, navabi, blablacar among others.

Dr. Nikolaus Föbus
Venture Partner

Niko was previously a partner at McKinsey, where he was a core member of the Retail & Consumer Goods Practice and led the store ops practice in EMEA. He left McKinsey in 2019 to build his own business, eagle lsp, a legal service provider focusing on tech-enabled, scalable solution in mass litigation and e-Discovery. His first Angel investments include successful Y-Combinator applications.

Juan Galan
Venture Partner

Technology leader with 15+ years of experience leading engineering teams building solutions in B2C, B2B and IoT in companies of all sizes. Currently CTO @ EQS Group AG

Fabian Rother
Director (DACH)

As Capital Director Fabian is responsible for securing capital and manages investor relations in the DACH-region. Previously he spent significant time within the media company Bertelsmann´s German advertising sales business. In his last role he led operations for a number of industry sectors as well as brands. Fabian graduated from University of St. Gallen with a Masters in International Affairs and Governance.

Marie Tricot
Capital Director

Marie is our Capital Director. She was previously Managing Director of the AIFM management company October Factory, a wholly owned entity of the October Group, a leading European alternative SME lender.

Frederik Brandis
Associate Partner

Frederik is an Associate Partner at Antler based out of Berlin. After kickstarting his career at the BCG, he worked as an operator and investor and decided to now follow his passion and focus on investing in the venture space. Having studied Philosophy and Management in Hamburg, London & Barcelona and working in a big variety of different fields - from football clubs to FemTech - he’s a generalist at heart and incredibly eager to support founding teams from day 0.

Maren Janas
Program Manager

Maren manages the program and coaches the cohorts at Antler France. Previously she build corporate ventures and accelerators at Deloitte in Germany. She holds a Master's Degree in CEMS/International Management attending WU Vienna & HEC Paris.

Gaultier Brun
Investment Team

Gaultier is an Investment Associate at Antler France. He was previously with GFC in Berlin focusing on Eastern Europe. He also had experiences in tech startups such as Convelio & sunday. He holds a double Master's degree from EDHEC Business School.

Matteo Fortunato Condello
Investment Team

Matteo is a former entrepreneur and an experienced professional in consultancy and recruitment. After a BSc in Economics and Management from Bocconi University and an MSc in Finance from VU Amsterdam, Matteo started his career in Huxley as a Recruitment Consultant for tech and financial roles within banking and fintech organizations mostly in the Netherlands and Italy. His passion for startups and innovations led him to create his own AI startup in the hr-tech domain, bynd.ai, and to start working alongside founders to support them on their journey.

Alexandra Hörndl
Investment Team

With a degree from WU Vienna and a strong foundation in the startup ecosystem, she has previously played pivotal roles in driving strategic growth and expansion. Through her positions at N26, Trade Republic, and FORMEL Skin, she has gained extensive exposure to various verticals, allowing her to develop a comprehensive understanding of the complexities involved in driving startup success. Now she will leverage her skills and collaborate with the exceptional founders who are joining us at Antler. Besides that, she is passionate about creating social impact by working with different NGOs in her spare time.

Sophie Fernandez
Outreach & Operations Associate

Sophie is the Operations & Outreach Associate at Antler in France, responsible for increasing visibility and sourcing top founders. Previously, she was a Digital Transformation consultant at McKinsey and developed her marketing strategy expertise at Société Générale and EY. She holds a degree in Digital Strategy and Business from ESSEC and ESCP Business School.

Lara Planet
Investment Team

Lara is part of the Investment Team at Antler based out of Berlin. Before joining Antler, she spent two years in Copenhagen where next to her studies at Copenhagen Business School, she gained hands-on experience working for an e-Mobility start-up GreenMobility. Before moving to Copenhagen, Lara completed her Bachelor's degree in Berlin and worked for a global mobility service provider Sixt Leasing SE. She also built up her skills and knowledge in strategic consulting at RITTERWALD Consulting, where she helped clients solve complex strategic and operational problems and improve their performance. In her free time, Lara enjoys cooking and is a passionate traveller.

Job Wever
Investment Team

Job’s career unfolded through internships at ASML, Kempen, and Torqx Capital Partners. He holds a double Master’s degree in Applied Physics and Management Engineering (cum laude) from TU Delft, with an honours term in Artificial Intelligence at Stanford. During this term, he played a pivotal role in the inception of an AI startup in Silicon Valley. In addition to giving several guest lectures on AI, his curiosity regularly leads him digging into all sorts of domains, from deep tech to B2B SaaS to consumer.

Elisabeth Guitine
Finance Associate

Elisabeth is the Finance Associate at Antler in France. She oversees all matters linked to the funds and finance function. She previously worked as a Head of Finance for a french food tech company and coupled her expertise by exercising the role of a VC analyst in a french impact fund.

Christian Nagel
Investment Team

Christian has journeyed through an array of industries and functions, from M&A and Private Equity/Search Fund roles to Business Development in a VC-backed FinTech startup. He also found his passion for entrepreneurship and co-founded a B2B SaaS startup in Zurich. He further sharpened his experience in the VC ecosystem at Wizard Ventures and Ananda Impact Ventures.In parallel with his professional journey, Christian completed his Bachelor's degree in Business Administration and Economics at the University of Passau and Meiji University in Tokyo. Currently, he's pursuing a Master's in Impact Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Nova School of Business and Economics.

Misha Bragin
Julia Wadehn
Co-founder
Ali Abu Jbara
Finance Team

Ali has a BSc in International Accounting from the German Jordanian University. Ali gained his experience in renowned companies such as EY, Ready-Mix Cement Industries Co. Ltd, and Lingual Consultancy Services where he worked in the Accounting, Finance & Global Compliance fields. He also has a huge interest in entrepreneurship, start-ups and always loves to explore new business ideas and share thoughts with talented and ambitious people. His main hobby is playing football and has represented the GJU football team in Jordan.

Antler in Berlin

Since our first Berlin residency in 2021, Antler has become one of the most active investors in Germany.

Alexander Brunner
Investment Team

Alex finished his Bachelors at the University of Mannheim and is currently in progress of defending his thesis in order to finish his Masters at Catolica Lisbon SBE. He became interested in entrepreneurship and the startup ecosystem through Q-Summit and startup experiences from friends. Because of that he decided to intern in Venture Development at Razor Group and tink to experience startups in different stages. He rejoined Razor in the M&A Integrations team to get insights into deal making. Now he is eager to explore Venture Capital and the other part of the startup ecosystem.

Tilman Besch
Investment Team

Tilman has experience working in consulting, tech and real estate investments. He gained his professional and academic experiences in London, Helsinki, Milan, Hamburg and Berlin. Having an academic background in Law and Business, Tilman obtained his degree from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. He is eager to work more closely with founders from their earliest days in their journey.

Rafael Alain Rolli
Co-founder
Gina Xydias Charmanta
Co-founder
Teo Ortega
Co-founder
Celina Messner
Co-founder
Antler in Continental Europe
Rafael Urdaneta
Head of Finance - DACH

Rafael started his career as an entrepreneur in Barcelona, shortly after completing his IMBA. Startups and Finance have been his passion all along, so he has started a number of companies in Europe and Asia. After living and working in China for 8+ years, he moved back to Europe several years ago and has since then been actively involved in Startups.

Pria Koll
Investment Team

Pria’s interest in entrepreneurship started when she joined a community-building startup whilst a student at the University of Southern California. Keen to learn more, she worked at a mental health tech startup, which deepened her interest in this field. After completing her B.A. in Communications, Pria is eager to learn more about entrepreneurship from a new perspective and has joined Antler as a Visiting Investment Associate.

Can Kuloglu
Investment Team

Can possesses strong foundation in the startup ecosystem through gaining experience at Hive, an operational VC fund FoodLabs, where he took part in a rotation program as a founders' associate in two portfolio companies and worked for a fintech company based in Berlin. Can holds a degree in business economics from the University of Exeter and has a passion for football.

Juan Galan
Venture Partner

Technology leader with 15+ years of experience leading engineering teams building solutions in B2C, B2B and IoT in companies of all sizes. Currently CTO @ EQS Group AG

Gentian Kuqica
Investment Team

Gentian began his career by working in Investment Management and HRTech startups. He later became a part of the Investment Team at APX where he helped source and select startups. Gentian loves to follow the trends of the quantified self industry and med-tech. Gentian obtained a degree in Economics from Bocconi University. He will be supporting Antler as an Investment Associate.

Friederike Tietz
Working Student

Friederike began her career by putting her knowledge into practice at LINUS Digital Finance. She moved on to the investment banking and consulting space, including experiences at Deutsche Bank and boutique management consulting. She is always happy to apply her training and experience within Process Management and is excited by recent developments in the FinTech, EdTech and FoodTech space. Currently she is pursuing an M.Sc. in Management Science at Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management and holds a B.Sc. in International Business from European University Viadrina.

Dr. Nikolaus Föbus
Venture Partner

Niko was previously a partner at McKinsey, where he was a core member of the Retail & Consumer Goods Practice and led the store ops practice in EMEA. He left McKinsey in 2019 to build his own business, eagle lsp, a legal service provider focusing on tech-enabled, scalable solution in mass litigation and e-Discovery. His first Angel investments include successful Y-Combinator applications.

Dr. Christoph Klink
Partner

As Partner in Central Europe, Christoph supports exceptional entrepreneurs along their journey - from entering into a cohort to building and scaling their ventures successfully. He draws on his background as Business Angel and Partner with McKinsey & Company. Before joining Antler he served a range of leading technology organizations, amongst others from the mobility and transportation space, on disruptive strategy and building innovative business models. Building and nurturing top talent organizations is one of his key passions and a great source of inspiration for Christoph.

Daniel Smeds
Advisor

Daniel is CEO & Founder of optile. Previously he founded Pay.On which got acquired by ACI Worldwide. Before that, he was Director of Technology at Wirecard.

Alan Poensgen
Partner

Alan is a partner with Antler based out of Berlin. Alan brings extensive experience in building and scaling technology businesses. He was previously MD and Co-Founder at Westwing, a home & living e-commerce company, and one of Europe’s few e-commerce IPOs of the past years. Before Westwing, he built the software development hub at Rocket Internet, and was CEO of a SEA e-commerce company, along with working for a VC and starting his own company in Spain.

Alkaios Bournias Varotsis
Product Marketing Manager
Adeline Lee
Head of Product
Anna Drescher
Marketing Project & Account Manager

Some of our Past Speakers

Throughout our residencies, successful entrepreneurs have shared their insights and experiences with our founders, offering valuable mentorship !

Clare Jones

CEO of Polarstep

Daniel Krauss

Co-founder of Flix

Marc-Alexander Christ

Co-founder of SumUp

Francesco Wiedemann

Co-founder of Kyte

Frank Freund

Co-founder and CFO of Raisin

Robert Kraal

Co-founder of Silverflow

Clare Jones

CEO of Polarstep

Daniel Krauss

Co-founder of Flix

Marc-Alexander Christ

Co-founder of SumUp

Francesco Wiedemann

Co-founder of Kyte

Frank Freund

Co-founder and CFO of Raisin

Robert Kraal

Co-founder of Silverflow

Connect on LinkedIn

Our Blog

Get an inside look at what goes on at Antler

View all
12 MINUTES—Episode 3: Kilian Martin from Physikit

12 MINUTES with Antler founders gives a closer look into the journey of founders toward successfully building their ventures. Every first Wednesday of the month Alan Poensgen, Antler Partner in Germany, sits down with a founder of an Antler portfolio company and talks about their time at Antler, the team formation, the ideation process, and more.

Ability to Raise Cheat Sheet—A guide for founders on how much to raise in their first round

“How much can I realistically raise?” I hear this question a lot from our founders. The answer is especially tough for the very first funding rounds before a lot has been built. The spread in the pre-seed and seed rounds is massive. Some teams can raise millions with nothing but a pitch deck, while others struggle to close a hundred thousand euros from angel investors.  

Since we are usually the very first investors, we discuss this a lot with our founders. So, I have come up with a simplified framework to give some directional guidance. The framework is most certainly not scientific and you will find exceptions all over the place, but I believe it is directionally right for the Berlin Ecosystem in 2023. So let’s dig into it.

How to make the most of your residency—six tips from Antler

The Antler residency is a unique opportunity to get together with 60+ other founders eager to build life-changing ventures. No matter how well you prep, it is impossible to be completely prepared for what can be truly transformational. The important thing is to be ready to fully immerse yourself, and take in everything you can during the experience. In this article, I’m outlining how to get the most out of the rollercoaster ride that is an Antler residency. As Co-Global Head of Program, having worked with 450+ founders during our eight latest residencies in Amsterdam, I have a few tips to share.

Antler in Berlin welcomes new additions to the Antler portfolio

What a day! On Wednesday 28th June all of Antler portfolio companies met up together with more than 150 investors, other founders, and executives. It was a day full of inspiration, insightful conversations, and a great opportunity to keep the spirits up when the times for start-ups are hard.

After the panel discussion led by Christopher Klink, partner at Antler Germany, where Emilia Theye, co-founder of Clare&Me, Tore Myrholt, Chairman of the Board at Antler, and Emma Tracey, CEO at Scéal shared their insights and perspectives on the early-stage ecosystem in the region and beyond as well as gave advice to founders and investors. They also concluded that despite hard times, there is a lot of light and positive expectations for the years to come!

The elephant in the room: The role of unconscious bias in venture capital decision-making

"The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made, and the activity of making them changes both the maker and the destination." —John H. Schaar

The founder of NeoCarbon, Silvain Toromanoff, on having an impact, finding a co-founder and learning from failure

Silvain joined Antler after four years as a CTO at Sayduck, a Finnish company providing services for e-commerce and enhancing interactive shopping experience through displaying 3D products on their websites. Silvain helped to shape the company strategy and played a pivotal role during the acquisition of Sayduck by the Swedish Goodbye Kansas Group. However, he was missing a deeper sense of purpose as the company was “not solving any pressing issue” as he explained in our interview. Therefore, he decided to leave the company and started making the first steps toward building his own company. A company with a significant positive impact on the climate, planet, and people.


However, this was harder than expected, and even though he met many talented people, there was always something missing – not the right match, timing, or diverse expectations. Struggling to find the right co-founder he joined Antler. Now, he and his co-founder René are building NeoCarbon and are on a mission to tackle climate change using Direct Air Capture.

Shani Cohen: How my dinner conversation turned into a startup company

Our baby, UpMarket, is already two months old. It’s been an incredible experience from the point I joined Antler as a founder, only a few months ago, to now being ready to go live with our product and first customer. In this article I will share my experience on the rollercoaster that started with an idea I originally came up with during dinner.

FAQs

Is Antler an accelerator or incubator?

We are neither an accelerator nor an incubator, we’re a day-zero investor. We help founders brainstorm, develop and validate ideas and start scaling their start-ups with us. Additionally, we continue to support our founders throughout their whole start-up journey.

What does day zero investing mean?

Day zero investing means backing founders from the very beginning—whether it’s pre-team or even pre-idea—and continuing to support them on their company’s journey. We are there when a founder is at the starting line, when everything is possible and nothing is certain. When they have made the life-changing decision to take the leap and build a company, leaving conventional career paths behind. When their belief, passion, and drive are often the only things fueling them. And we are still there after we make our first investment, as a long-term partner providing advice, introductions, resources, and follow-on funding—all the way to their exit.

What companies does Antler back?

We are industry agnostic. We invest in exceptional people building scalable companies. However, we do not invest in alcohol, tobacco or gambling.

Does Antler provide a business idea?

Our industry partners may provide problem statements they would like to solve, and the Antler team and mentors will help find the right area and business model to work in, but we don’t believe in providing ready-made ideas for you to work on. Ultimately this will be up to you and your co-founder(s)!

Is this a full time commitment?

Yes. Please consider your current notice period, plus the personal and financial investment starting a business requires.

Is the program on-site?

Yes. We fully believe in meeting each other in person to develop meaningful relationships. You can incorporate your company anywhere.

Do I need an idea to join Antler?

No, you don't. Some founders have a clear idea of what they want to build, however, most join us with areas of interest and expertise they then start to explore.

Can I negotiate Terms & Conditions?

Our terms are non-negotiable. Any further investment would be distinct from Antler’s investment and subject to new terms.

Do participants receive a grant during the residency?

Every cohort member in Berlin and Munich receives a EUR 1,000 grant.

Do I need to be at the location in person and for how long?

Depending on the kind of residency you are opting for, we have different requirements. During the main 7/11-week program, we require your physical presence in our Amsterdam, Berlin, or Munich offices.

Can I form a team with people from other locations?

Yes, we even encourage this. However, we require you to work from the same location for a significant amount of time.

How do I meet people from the other locations?

We will facilitate virtual meet-ups with additional optional meetings in person. You will also work in the same virtual workspaces and be in one community Slack channel.

What does a day in the cohort look like?

Besides working alongside like-minded founders, you’ll spend your time developing and iterating on your ideas, conducting customer discovery and research, beta testing as quickly as possible, and building your product roadmap and go-to-market strategy The Antler team will provide guidance and sparring sessions, organize challenges, social sessions, and speaker series with industry experts, coaches, and successful founders. At the end of the program, teams present to our Investment Committee.

How big are the teams?

Most Antler teams consist of two to three co-founders.

How many companies have Antler have in its portfolio?

Antler has more than 1,000+ companies in its portfolio.

What makes us different from other VCs?

Antler specialises in bringing the most exceptional people together and enabling them to build a great startup. Our cohort members are often pre-team, pre-idea and pre-funding. Furthermore, we promote diversity at every level: background, career stage and skills.

Can I apply to one than more locations?

Yes, but only one location at a time will consider your application.

What are Antler’s investment terms?

As of fall 2024, Antler is introducing new investment terms in Europe. Antler now commits €300K into startups at Day Zero. The first €100K is in return for 10% of the business. The other €200K is a binding commitment (signed at Day Zero) to the startup’s pre-seed funding round within the following months at the round’s terms.

The binding commitment of €200K is referred to as ARC (Agreement for Rolling Capital). To avoid excess dilution in small funding rounds, Antler will match every Euro raised from professional investors with 50 Cents, up until a total investment of €200K.

This means that we will invest €100K at Day Zero for 10% (subject to dilution in next round) and €200K committed at Day Zero as part of your following round within the coming 9 months at the round’s valuation, e.g. at €10 mn post money valuation.

Further, Antler has the capital to continue backing its portfolio companies from day zero through to Series C.

How many founders get into the residency?

We select between 50 to 70 exceptional founders from over 4,000 candidates on average per residency. We select the top 2% of applicants, which allows us to maintain a high-standard residency with outstanding individuals.

Building a startup is your best opportunity to positively impact the world

Antler founders are using their skills and experience to build startups that will have a positive impact on the world. They're solving the most pressing problems, creating jobs, and amplifying their personal trajectory. What are you waiting for?

Contact Antler

Get in touch with our team!

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